'Wrong fuel' blunders cost police £75,000

Published on Friday 25 December 2009 21:38

IT IS a routine task in which a simple mistake can lead to an expensive garage bill – putting the wrong fuel in a vehicle and driving away can leave motorists facing costly repairs.

Seven drivers on average break down in Scotland every day because they have filled their vehicle with the wrong sort of fuel. The most common mistake drivers make is to put regular petrol into a diesel tank.

The Scotsman can reveal that Scottish police forces spent more than 75,000 fixing misfuelled vehicles over the last five years.

In scenes that would not look have looked out of place in the comedy movie Hot Fuzz, bungling police officers have managed to put the wrong sort of fuel into patrol cars, vans and motorcycles 401 times since 2005.

If a mistake is spotted before the car is driven then a drain and flush of the vehicle's fuel system can cost as little as 250, but if the vehicle is driven after being filled with the wrong type of fuel, it can cost up to 6,000 for a full engine rebuild and service.

Fife Police force spent 10,200 in 2008 fixing just two vehicles, while the country's largest force, Strathclyde, has spent 35,830.73 fixing 240 vehicles since 2005.

Smaller forces have fared slightly better in the rankings. Between 2006 and 2009 Dumfries and Galloway spent 978 fixing eight vehicles, while Tayside Police Force have had to repair 19 vehicles between 2005 and 2009 at a cost of 1,599.95.

A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police said: "The number of these instances have decreased dramatically since 2005. "Any organisation which requires staff to use vehicles will tell you that there is an element of human error involved which is difficult to completely mitigate against.

"Strathclyde Police is continuously testing new devices which may help to eliminate this issue.

"In addition we are considering the use of vehicles with single fuelling points which will eliminate the problem."

There were a total of 63 cases across in 2009 alone, despite the drive from most police forces to use anti-misfuelling devices.

About 2 per cent of RAC call-outs involve "misfuelling".

The AA estimated around 12,600 misfuelling cases by drivers are reported in Scotland each year.

An AA spokesman said: "Misfuelling is most common on Monday mornings and Friday evenings when your mind is elsewhere – what's on TV, weekend, kids, dinner etc. Filling up tends to take longer than people realise, so they're often rushing and not concentrating; just a momentary lapse in concentration can be an expensive mistake.

"It is an increasing problem due to the popularity of diesel cars and increasing multi-car households, often one diesel and one petrol, and people using unfamiliar hire cars, company cars etc."

He said 95 per cent of misfuels see motorists put petrol into diesel vehicles because diesel filler necks are wider than unleaded nozzles. The AA also called for standardised colours to help motorists distinguish between diesel and petrol hoses on forecourts.

"Misfuelling is expensive, inconvenient, wasteful, environmentally damaging and potentially dangerous, so we welcome steps to prevent it."

Recovery firm Green Flag said they received 720 calls a year, an average of about two every day, from drivers in Scotland because of misfuelling, which makes up 7.2 per cent of calls.